Wednesday, October 11, 2017

USS McCain heads for repair - riding on another ship


USS John S. McCain, the destroyer damaged in a collision off Japan earlier this year, is on her way to the shipyard for repairs.  GCaptain posted the news, along with this time-lapse video of the destroyer being positioned aboard the transport ship MV Treasure, which had been ballasted down to allow the warship to float over her mid-section.  After McCain was in position, the ballast was pumped out, raising the ship's deck (and her cargo) out of the water.





That was some intricate maneuvering, and some good work by the tugs.

Peter

3 comments:

c-90 said...

If I'm not mistaken, the vessel was also used to take the USS Cole from the Middle East after the suicide bomber attack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Blue_Marlin

C-90

Paul, Dammit! said...

Nope, different ship, same owners.

Dockwise is the best in the world at these projects. There isn't a single American company currently able to do this sort of work, and that's a shame. Our overpaid, undercapitalized and overpriced 19th century-tech shipbuilding industry has to shoulder much of that blame.

The Dutch are the world leaders in heavy lift work. Dockwise makes a pilgrimage to NY every year or two to pick up old tugboats and barges at the end of their life and bring them to Africa where they can soldier on for another 15-20 years.

Anonymous said...

I think the USS Cole was salvaged/carried by Mighty Servant 1 or 2.

Given the rate that the USN is running their destroyers into commercial traffic, the high end salvage business is probably gonna be going gangbusters.